Google Blogger vs Hubpages: which is the best way to make money online?

Since completing university, Paul has worked as a librarian, teacher, and freelance writer. Born in the UK, he currently lives in Florida.

As someone who uses both HubPages and Google Blogger, I thought it might be interesting and useful to write a comparison of the two writing websites, with particular attention paid to which out of the two is the best way to make money online.

In some ways, it is not an either or situation, at the end of the day, as there is nothing to stop you opening accounts and using both of them, but a comparison is still worth exploring as each site has its relative strengths and weaknesses.

So here is my comparison of two giant writing sites: Google Blogger vs Hubpages: which is the best way to make money online?

Advantages of Hubpages?

Whereas Google Blogger is but one arm of the Google empire and is in many ways a blog website with an advertising option, HubPages is a business that relies entirely on receiving an income from its users writing articles online. This means that they are specialized, dedicated and focused on enabling people to make money online, as they rely on it for their business to survive.

HubPages is a great site for earning through affiliate advertising sites such as Amazon, and eBay. You can also earn using the site's own ad program. | Source

You can write about pretty much whatever you want on HubPages and will do okay, whereas Google Blogger really is best for blogs about a particular subject area, if you intend to make money online. Having said that, even HubPages benefits from articles written in associated subject areas and put in interlinked groups. This is because if you use the same keywords in different articles, it has the effect of boosting your overall standing for those keywords, as far as Google is concerned, as your site is seen as having a specialist interest and more likely to be giving correct information.

Although HubPages take 40% of the income generated by user sites, they make up for that in other ways. They optimize the structure of the website to make sure that the site does well in the Google rankings. They have also introduced their own adverts scheme which has generally had a positive effect on how much money you can make with HubPages with many people finding it to be more lucrative than Google Adsense.

Hubpages is probably a slightly easier site to use overall in terms of user friendliness. But it is slightly less versatile in my experience, as you are limited if you want to make changes to the layout of the screen, or customize your blog.

The writer at his laptop. I've earned money using both HubPages and Blogger over the years and each has its own advantages and disadvantages. | Source

Advantages of Google Blogger?

Whereas the writer earns 60% of Adsense revenue with HubPages, they earn 100% with Google Blogger. This sounds great, but it is offset to some degree by other factors, such as the HubPages Ads and HubPages onsite SEO (see above).

The Google site generally does well in ranking on Google searches, especially if some basic SEO ideas are followed, and as it is owned by Google, it seems unlikely that a situation will arise where Google drastically demotes it in regard to Google Search Engine results. This can be contrasted with websites such as Hubpages, which seem vulnerable at times to changes in approach and policy by Google. The recent Google algorithm changes which took away 50% of HubPages’ traffic would appear to demonstrate this.

If your Blogger page becomes successful, then you have the option of buying your own domain name for it. The blog will still be “powered” by Blogger, but will show up as a dot com or whatever domain name you buy for it. Google make it easy to do this.

Which do you prefer: Google Blogger or HubPages?

Conclusion

As I mentioned at the start, both Google Blogger and HubPages both have relative strengths and weaknesses.

In my opinion, HubPages is great for writing one off articles, or small groups of articles on a similar topic, but Google Blogger can be good when you want to write a blog with lots of posts that are focused on one particular topic area (sometimes called a niche blog).

In terms of earnings, there is no doubt that HubPages is more specifically geared towards making money, with Amazon and eBay ads easier to add, and an in-house advertising/earning scheme. Blogger on the other hand is principally aimed at the amateur/non-profit making blogger, although this certainly doesn't mean that you can't use it to make money.

It is also believed by some people that Blogger will always do relatively well as far as search rankings go, given that Google also operate one of the biggest search engines. The thinking goes that Google are unlikely to penalize their own blogging service. HubPages, on the other hand, has gone up and down over the years, as far as search engine rankings.

Always remember, however, that Google Blogger and HubPages are both free services, so you won’t lose any money by using both. Where there is overlapping subject matter, you can interlink your Blogger and HubPages posts to create your own backlinks!

Comments

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maruf 2 months ago

Hello I am so delighted I located your I really located you by mistake, while I was watching on google for something else, Anyways I am here now and could just like to say thank for a tremendous post and a all round entertaining website. Please do keep up the great work

Anita Hasch 8 months agofrom Port Elizabeth

Thanks for the info Paul. I use both Hubpages and Blogger. I'm happy with both. I love Blogger's different templates.

Glenis Rix 11 months agofrom UK

I find that although I receive far more visits to my Google blog (which is redirected to my private website) I am earning more from my hubs. Does anyone else have the same experience? It's much more satisfying to write hubs too so I'm thinking of giving up on the blog.

Author

Paul Goodman 14 months agofrom Florida USA

I don't know. What happens when you try? Do you get any sort of error message?

Mitchyboy 14 months ago

good article man.. Just wondering if you know why it wouldn't allow me to put adsense ads on my blogger account? Thanks

I prefer hubpages do to the fact that my interest are all over the place and I write about different subject that don't really go together on a blog.

Eugene Samuel Monaco 2 years agofrom Lakewood New York

A very intersting comparison, I use both, but have not been blogging long enough to compare. So thanks for the insight.

Donna Cook 2 years ago

Hi Paul, This Hub is more relative than ever with the new Panda update and drops in views. I'm a Squidoo refugee. As soon as I get an AdSense account (hopefully in a week), I'm going to set up and move some content to Blogger. Voted up and shared.

Jackie Mark dela Cruz 3 years ago

wew blogged on Blogger for about 10 yrs and only just started on Hubpages, but I think trying to compare the two is an apples and oranges thing. The only reason to lump them together might be the topics of writing and making money.

Ilona 3 years agofrom Ohio

I've blogged on Blogger for about 10 yrs and only just started on Hubpages, but I think trying to compare the two is an apples and oranges thing. The only reason to lump them together might be the topics of writing and making money.

That said, I think your comparison is interesting, and I probably wouldn't have thought about the perspective gained from comparing the two without this article. I think that Squidoo and Hubpages have more points in common to compare.

Pierre Eustache C. 4 years agofrom Haiti

I am still using both hubpages and blogger! But i had a bad experience in the past with blogger. Getting code for related blog with thumbnail from others sites, my blog got deleted for suspicious code. There are not a standard for getting blogger widget, you use them at your own risk!

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Paul Goodman 4 years agofrom Florida USA

@Crackiit - I agree with Chuck. Never put the same article in two or more places on the internet. It is a quick way to lose traffic, and maybe receive additional penalties from Google too.

You can re-write the article, using different wording, of course, if you want to put it somewhere else. Don't be tempted to use software to do the rewrites for you (known as 'spinning'), re-write the article manually.

crackiit 4 years ago

ok...thanx :)

Chuck Bluestein 4 years agofrom Morristown, AZ, USA

Your hubs are not supposed to be on any other website. HubPages only wants totally original content on their website. Also Google is not very fond of duplicate content.

crackiit 4 years ago

@paulgoodman67 sir i wou;d like to ask one thing that if i put up the same article in my hubs and blogger blogs will it do any harm?or is it a good idea??

Kerry43 4 years ago

Hello, I enjoyed this article, thanks. I actually wrote one camparing the two platforms some time ago. I finally gave up my blogger blogs because I had been flagged for no apparent reason on numerous occasions and worried I would eventually lose my Adsense account. Of course I objected, but like most everyone who has requested reinstatement, I got no response from the big G.

Some great tips for newbies, good job :)

Kerry

jontymagicman 4 years ago

Hi Paul,

That's a wonderful post on blogger and hubpages platform .... I am writing for blogger now since 6 months ... I have a domain name by http://www.hubberspot.com ..... I think its one of the wonderful blogging platform as compared to wordpress or tumblr .... I am amazed by the look and feel of the blogger platform ,,,...... Soon I am going to post amazon products on my blog ....

Thanks a lot for sharing useful info here .....

Chuck Bluestein 4 years agofrom Morristown, AZ, USA

I think it is better to use both since you can then get backlinks from a different domain. Also as time goes on, you will have 2 websites (subdomains) that are getting older instead of just one. Besides having both of the above, I also have blog on wordpress.com which you cannot earn money from.

Margaret Skipper 5 years agofrom Baton Rouge, LA

Wow, great info! I've never considered making money on blogger... i just thought that it was a way to express yourself...lol. I have a blog but don't even have adsense activated.... shame on me! Thanks for sharing!

Author

Paul Goodman 5 years agofrom Florida USA

Thanks for stopping by, Rebecca, I always respect your opinion and yes, I know what you mean, this article is frozen in time whereas the real life situation is constantly evolving.

However, despite HubPages suffering traffic problems due to Google algorithm updates (and I include my own in this, as my HP views are currently in the pits), I do think that the HP Ads program is great. With Blogger, you can struggle to earn much, especially if you are reliant on Google Adsense, even if your traffic levels are relatively good, in my experience.

Blogger is always going to be a safe bet, as far as the Google Search Engine goes, on the other hand, as it is difficult to see the site ever being treated unkindly.

I personally would recommend writing at both sites, which is what I do. Blogger is a safe bet for search engine traffic but earnings are often mediocre; HP has more earnings potential but traffic is erratic and the future is less certain: that is how I personally would summarize the situation at present.

Rebecca E. 5 years agofrom Canada

Paul-- I admit I stopped by to read this, but I do like the compare/ contrast of this Blogger and Hubpages, but these days, what do you think of the changes which have happened with our beloved animals? ( I think we're on Penguiin) At this point blogger is going quite well.

lhale 5 years agofrom Georgia

Thanks for the info. I have to admit I'm too new to really understand all the comments. Maybe I'll revisit this in a few months.

Victor Mavedzenge 6 years agofrom Oakland, California

Good comparison Paul. I will work on them both to improve traffic as suggested in the comments.

sakesare 6 years ago

Definitely Google loves Blogger and one newbie can benefit from Blogger if he puts up a little effort because Blogger is easy to implement and use. You have put up a comprehensive comparison of both here. Keep it up.

mitshell 6 years agofrom worlwide

Comparison will make us know the advantages and the disadvantages of both

VizFact @ Work 6 years ago

Right, damn, right, and Yeah. That's what was left out of the hub that left me disturbed. But now its in the comments so my life long pursuit of being disturbed, has come to an end.

Nice Hub!

Author

Paul Goodman 6 years agofrom Florida USA

@VizFact - Yes, I always encourage lively discussion, even if people disagree with me.

I think you can often get a "mini-community" going in Blogger which is good amongst your followers and followed, which is good, but requires time and effort as people get fed up if you never comment on their site. The Blogger site is probably too big anyway to have something sitewide. It always strikes me as funny how out of maybe 200,000 people on HP, most forum comments are usually by the same 50-100 people. But that is human nature, I guess.

VizFact The Dude 6 years agofrom Houston, TX

I am sure Paul has no qualms about a lively discussion taking place on his hub, it is good. To put it lightly.

Good point about force feeding - I notice that's a Google trend as I've just discovered the versatility of Google Sites via my nearly web design illiterate brother who led me through all of the tools. I just discovered Google checkout too! It's a nice way to do business, just not used to it.

I have seen that next button on Blogger and hate it because you don't where you're going - which can be fun too of course, just a little too random for my preference. However, if that's how it's done, then I'll join the fray!

Alex, I agree a tad bit, but not fully with your statement "what community"...

In blogger there is a way to click next and run through all the most frequently updated blogs on the network, so if you update your blogger blog regularly, it will be more likely to be seen on the blogger network.

I have seen some crazy blogs on thar! So that's how I know about the community, they also use that Google follow thing that no one knows about, its easy to find a hot blogger blog that integrated with the blogger community that way.

Blogger is a product the likes of which doesn't force feed you application education, which is where it suffers.

LOL. Good follow through - this is why I won't upgrade my IE7 on my laptop or IE8 on my home pc. I'm decent with html and css but I hit a wall with javascript. I'm starting to appreciate CMS's a lot more now.

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Paul Goodman 6 years agofrom Florida USA

I had all sorts of problems with using my own customized banner heading in Google Blogger, if it was right in one browser, it was out of position in another. Took me ages messing around with the pixel dimensions.

My html skills are about as good as my French speaking abilities. Which doesn't say much! lol

Yes, you can get into the html, but I think you can't manipulate the placement of items - or I guess I wish I could get into the CSS :-) On my blog, I had to put in spaces for the title to center it and there is a black area to the left (which matches my background so no big deal) - or maybe I need to work it a little more. To my knowledge, you can't manipulate the code on Sites. I love designing websites by hand, but my brother had to take me through Google Sites so I could learn what a great tool it is! Hope you like it as much as I do.

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Paul Goodman 6 years agofrom Florida USA

@Alexander

Thanks for your comment. I tried to cover what I thought were the main facts. With any review-style article there is always a subjective element too, of course.

In my experience, I often get decent levels of traffic on Blogger, but usually don't earn as much as HP, relatively speaking.

Like you, I have not really discovered a Blogger community, although if I want to find something out, I Google it, and there is always someone on Blogger who has written something on my query.

To be fair to Vizfact, Blogger does give you options of going into the html and playing around with the code, which increases your customization options considerably. Most people don't have the technical skills to do that, however, so are stuck with the set options.

I like how you outlined that both Blogger and HP are free. I think you covered the facts pretty well.

Vizfact: I am new to Blogger but what community? There is no subject directory, just a search engine for the blogs. I suppose there are independent forums I can find associated with Blogger, but seriously, HP can't be beat - it's easy to find new readers and authors, easy to communicate with them and so on. In short, HP is centralized and easy for a newbie to get into. Blogger is great too, but I have to do all the footwork to find that community, to find unique blogs and so on. On top of that, HP is a LOT more helpful than Google.

As a money making base, this comparison is a fair one and very simple and straightforward.

On a side note, if you think Blogger is great at giving us customization options, you should give Google Sites a whirl, I love it so far and may even use it to build a promotional site for one of my books!

VizFact The Dude 6 years agofrom Houston, TX

@ BWD319 - be patient and diligent!

Brian Dooling 6 years agofrom Connecticut

nice hub, voted up! I just joined Hubpages a few weeks ago and have also began using Google Blogger, so its still early to see results but between the two I hope it will make me a few extra bucks sooner or later!

Roberta Kyle 6 years agofrom Central New Jersey

NIce summary of the advantages and disadvantages of both platforms. I have two Google Blogger blogs and, obviously write on Hubpages as well. It's sort of like having the best of both worlds-- Blogger is for my personal political opinion posts and Hubpages is where I put evergreen articles with ( I hope) timeless appeal. I don't really have a niche on Hubpages but enjoy writing about a variety of subjects. As you say, it is not an either/or proposition.

@Bretsuki - thanks for your comment. During the panda hit period, I was getting more traffic coming from blogger to HP, than I was from Google.com but that has changed since the subdomain switch. I agree that HP is more lucrative in some respects, but I still use ads on Blogger.

@Viz fact - I wouldn't quite agree with you that Blogger is "fully customizable", though it is certainly more versatile than HubPages, in my experience. HubPages moved to subdomains a week ago and there has been a vast improvement in traffic for most people, as far as I can tell from the forums (certainly a big improvement in my case!). HP's increased similarity with Blogger is what prompted my post. I do appreciate that there are also major differences, however.

VizFact The Dude 6 years agofrom Houston, TX

There is no comparison, this is like comparing apple to oranges.

With Blogger, it's basically a free website, which is fully customizable, its success (page rank, search engine visibility) is dependent on the user to make his own project succeed.

You are going to take a hit in traffic till you build search engine respect for your subdomain, in that case, may as well roll with blogger.

In fact, multiple blogger accounts for the different subjects you're into.

Don't me wrong I love Hubpages, but this article is filled with tortured logic, that makes no sense once you understand cyber architecture as it relates to Google being against content farms designed to gain hits from search engine visibility with the intent of earning revenue from people who hit the site.

The community is the best part about hubpages, and blogger has that too.

I think Hubpages should go with a subject based, sub-domain structure, to be future proof. Like I did with my site once I found out about the algorithm mishaps, and the solution.

William Elliott 6 years agofrom California USA

Hello Paul, thanks for a very informative hub.

I use Google Blogger to post extra information on my posts as well as subjects which are too short to build into hubs at the present. I also link my blogs to my specialist hubs in order to support the traffic to the hubs. Personally I prefer to take most advertising off my blogs, directing traffic or providing information is their job. I leave advertising to HubPages, which is far more lucrative to me.

Rob Bell 6 years agofrom London

If you change your Blogger URL to a dot com will Google direct all your existing links to it?

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Paul Goodman 6 years agofrom Florida USA

Blogger have a deal with GoDaddy, where you buy a domain name through Google. It's easy to do, though less versatile than having your own website using something like Wordpress, for instance.

I have not heard the name change rumor, so I don't know if it is true or not?

Peter 6 years agofrom Australia

Very interesting comparison of Blogger versus HP. I would be interested to know how you can hook up a dot com website to your blogger blog? I have also read elsewhere that Google intend in the near future to drop the Blogger name and call the site something like 'Google Blogs' have you hear that rumor?